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Winnipeg police are looking for a man after a random attack in a bus shack near Portage Place on Tuesday.

Winnipeg police Const. Tammy Skrabek called an unprovoked attack near Portage Place on Tuesday morning, “horrific.”

Police say they were called to an assault in the 300 block of Portage Avenue around 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning where they found a 17-year-old university student from India suffering from serious head and facial injuries after a beating that left him unable to move.

The ordeal was caught on video, which police released part of on Wednesday.

“There’s two reasons why we aren’t showing you the rest of the video,” Skrabek said. “One, because the general public does not need to see this type of violence and two, we’re hoping to have this person arrested and this submitted as evidence in court.

“We’re talking about an attack where not only did he punch him, he punched him, he kicked him, he knocked him to the ground, he continued to punch and beat him about the head until this poor victim was unable to move.”

Skrabek said the victim was waiting in the bus shack when he was approached by an unknown man, viciously attacked, and then robbed before the suspect fled the area.

“The victim entered (the bus shack) approximately four-to-five minutes before the attack,” Skrabek said. “When he originally entered the bus shack there were other people waiting.”

Skrabek said the suspect waited until the bus shack was empty and until people in front of it were also gone.

“The victim is completely unknown to the suspect,” Skrabek said. “In fact, the victim has only been in the country for less than a month. He’s a university student who is studying. The attack was completely unprovoked.”

The man was rushed to hospital in stable condition and has since been released, but Skrabek said the victim will require follow up medical treatment.

The attack came on the same day that Mayor Brian Bowman announced about $193,000 will be spent in 2018 to expand foot patrols, litter cessation, graffiti removal and Bear Clan Patrol efforts to increase safety downtown.

Skarbek, meanwhile, said police need to get the suspect identified.

“In our eyes, somebody like this who completely randomly attacking somebody not known to him, unprovoked and you can see he’s calmly standing there,” she said. “We’re not talking about somebody who is high on drugs… erratic behaviour or anything else. We are talking about somebody who is standing there, purposely waiting to prey on a victim.

“That person is more dangerous than anyone else out there who’s perhaps dealing drugs or whatever it is. It’s this person that the public needs to be concerned about and for those reasons we’d really like to get this person identified as soon as possible and have them removed from the streets.”

Police are asking anyone with information that may assist police to call 204-986-6222 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-8477.

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